At 49, the former NFL running back makes Mom happy by finishing college

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Chargers coach Anthony Lynn, left, greets Cardale Jones before a game against the Bills last November. Lynn, 49, will miss rookie drills with the team this weekend to participate in a commencement ceremony at UNLV on Saturday, May 12, 2018. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

He hadn’t planned to take part in UNLV’s commencement ceremony, hadn’t planned on walking across the stage next to students less than half his age. When it came to the college degree he had put off for more than two decades, all Lynn wanted to do was finish his work, get his diploma in the mail, and send it to his mother.

And then, the Chargers head coach sat down with his counselor, who had never considered that Lynn might opt out of Saturday’s festivities.

“The disappointment on her face when I told her I wasn’t coming, it was tough,” Lynn recalled Friday. “I thought about it. She made me re-think it. I decided to walk, because if it could inspire one person, then it’s worth it.”

Which is why Lynn — entering his second season with the Chargers — won’t be present for the rest of his team’s rookie minicamp, which began Friday and runs through the weekend. Instead, he will fulfill a dream of his own by walking across the stage at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday afternoon, officially celebrated as a college graduate.

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Lynn isn’t the only non-traditional student in UNLV’s Class of 2018, whose members range from ages 17 to 72 and hail from 58 different countries. But the 49-year-old coach is the only one who also holds one of the most coveted jobs in football, the pursuit of which delayed his academic pursuits by 26 years.

When Lynn left Texas Tech in 1992, he did so just six credit hours shy of his undergraduate degree. He had wanted to complete his coursework then, but as an undrafted running back, he was also trying to claw his way onto an NFL roster. A conversation with one coach quickly prompted him to put academics on the backburner.

Chargers coach Anthony Lynn, right, seen during his playing days at Texas Tech in the 1989 All-American Bowl against Duke. (Photo courtesy of Texas Tech Athletic Department)

“I said I had to go back to school,” Lynn said. “He said, ‘You go back to school and you’re not making this team.’ He was just telling me the truth – an undrafted free agent isn’t going to make the team.”

Lynn’s decision to prioritize football worked out. He appeared in 83 regular-season games for the Broncos and the 49ers, and was a part of Denver’s back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 1998 and 1999. His playing career propelled him into coaching, where he made his name primarily by tutoring running backs. There wasn’t much time to plunge back into college.

But four years ago in New York, a conversation planted the seed. Dave Szott, the Jets’ director of player development, told Lynn how he finished his own degree 15 years after leaving Penn State as a seventh-round draft pick. Szott’s wife, Andrea, then told Lynn he should do the same — “no excuses.”

Lynn mulled over the idea, but delayed enrollment once he began interviewing for head coaching vacancies.

“In 2017, I said, ‘You know what, it’s now or never,’” Lynn said. “And then I become a head coach.”

Being hired by the Chargers didn’t deter him. With the help of a consulting firm, Lynn found a suitable program at UNLV, one flexible enough to help him finish most of his undergraduate coursework online.

Changing his major from exercise sports science to interdisciplinary studies quintupled his remaining credit requirements, but the five-week break between OTAs and training camp allowed him to work ahead and avoid conflicts with in-season coaching duties. Lynn’s final project was a 30-page report on how athletes transition to their post-career lives, which gave him perspective on the importance of mental health.

Finishing his degree held another benefit too. Although Lynn was the first in his family to attend college, others have since beaten him to the finish line. A week after his own commencement, his daughter, Danielle, will receive an MBA from the University of North Texas.

Jack Wang covers the Chargers, the latest NFL team to relocate to Los Angeles. He previously covered the Rams, and also spent four years on the UCLA beat, a strange period in which the Bruins' football program often outpaced their basketball team. He is a proud graduate of UC Berkeley, where he spent most of his time in The Daily Californian offices in Eshleman Hall — a building that did not become earthquake-safe until after his time on campus.

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